The King in Yellow Tales, Vol. 1 (2015, collection)

Nearly two decades before “True Detective” helped popularize “The King in Yellow”, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. was writing poetic tales based upon Robert W. Chambers’ “King in Yellow”. Collected within this substantial volume of madness, murder, and spectral tragedy are tales of Carcosa, the characters that inhabit the KIY “Play”, and Chambers’ cosmic horror. Pulver’s tales adhere to Chambers’ core ideas and themes, and they retain all the mystery of Chambers originals. Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. has been acclaimed by many notable editors, writers, and reviewers, as the contemporary heir to Robert W. Chambers’ “King in Yellow”. Have you seen the Yellow Sign?

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“No one does the darker side of surreal better than this man.” – Laird Barron

“‘The King In Yellow’ reigns over the labyrinthine crossroads between the grand indifference of the cosmic Outside, and the inner wasteland of the tormented mind, so it’s no surprise to find Joe Pulver’s saturnine face so frequently behind the Pallid Mask. Joe plies the fathomless depths of existential nightmare breathing music and poetry, and brings back strangely beautiful salvage. That he has so lovingly and deeply explored Chambers’ bizarre pocket universe without destroying the merest scintilla of its mystery is ample testament to his painfully sharp craftsmanship and terrible wisdom.’ – Cody Goodfellow, author of Radiant Dawn

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Table of Contents

A Line of Questions
Choosing
The “Carl Lee & Cassilda” Triology
Carl Lee & Cassilda
An American Tango Ending in Madness
Hello Is a Yellow Kiss
The Last Few Nights in A Life of Frost (Original “unpublished” version)
Chasing Shadows
Last Year in Carcosa
An Engagement of Hearts
Cordelia’s Song (Previously unpublished)
Saint Nicholas Hall
A Spider in the Distance
Under the Mask Another Mask
Epilogue For Two Voices
Yvrain’s “Black Dancers”
The Songs Cassilda Shall Sing, Where Flap the Tatters of the King
The Sky Will Not Fall (Previously unpublished)
Tark Left Santiago
Marks and Scars and Flags
Long-Stemmed Ghost Words
In This Desert Even the Air Burns
Perfect Grace
My Mirage
Mother Stands for Comfort
A Cold Yellow Moon (co-written with Edward R. Morris Jr.)